Snape's Punishment
by Myriad Dewdrop
Summary: The War is Over And guess what? Snape was on the good side and helped them win! But what will Harry do as the new Minister of Magic to punish his gitness? R&R!
1. Introductions

Chapter One: Introductions.

Disclaimer: None of this Harry Potter stuff is mine, sniff.

Snape looked at me and I looked at him.

"How the hell did you get out of my computer?" I mustered, trying to sound strong.

Snape sneered, "I wasn't in your computer, you silly girl. I read your fic."

"Oh?" I was genuinely surprised, " Which one?"

"The one where Hermione got shot, due to Ronald Weasly, out of a chimney."

Now this, I had not expected. Not only had I posted that fic well over a couple of years ago now, but it was most certainly deleted….. as this certain website is very mean to people who don't get 'bumped'….. Know which one it was? Good.

"But Sev," he scowled, "erus," he was still scowling but I continued anyway, " how could you have read that story? It was deleted like forever ago."

"Your friend Kaitylan gave me a copy, it was quite amusing – really. Dumbledore in a chicken suit…." He was actually chuckling, and it made me smile. "She reminds me of the real Hermione Granger for some reason."

"Oh yeah, well when we picked 'character names' for ourselves when the series was still in its early stages she picked her. Although she is rather bummed that Hermione went for Ron, she would've much rather it had been Harry." I replied, hoping he wouldn't ask me which name I had at first picked.

"How appropriate. And you picked?" I took a deep breath and then squeaked out,

"Lavender Brown."Snape's eyebrows shot through the roof, and he scooted slightly away from me – as if afraid his face might get sucked off. I nodded at him and said, " And then after the slobber-fest I changed my name to Ginny."

"Ah…. Potter's girlfriend." Snape sneered maliciously.

"No," Snape raised an unbelieving eyebrow, "It's just that she's ten times less likely to make out with Ron than anyone else."

Snape snorted – he hadn't been expecting that. "So then, which character do you fancy? If it's not Ron, or Harry then….. Draco?"

"Icky, icky, ew, ew, NO!" I replied, realizing that I must sound like a two year old twit to Snape. He, however, looked mildly offended.

"We Slytherins are not all bad, you know." He said softly.

"I know. In fact I like a Slytherin." I replied, staying as mysterious as I could.

This declaration really made Snape's eyebrows go through the roof. Then he seemed to go into deep consideration until he said, "Give me a hint."

"He's tall, dark, and handsome."

"Oh Merlin, not Crabbe!"

"EW! WORSE THAN DRACO!" I yelped, slightly insulted.

Snape shrugged, then seemed to realize he was talking to a stranger about her love interests and returned to being his cold, sarcastic self. He smiled nastily and said, "Just so you know, Hagrid was not in Slytherin."

"Oh ho, very funny Sevvie-kins!" That earned me a murderous glare.

"Well, who is it – or are you just pulling my leg that it's a Slytherin?" he snarled, determinedly stalking around the room.

I smiled serenely, 'Here comes the big blow, Severus' I thought. "Oh come now, surely you've realized that it's you. You're a master at Legilimency!"

Snape looked stunned, either that it was him, or that he hadn't thought of using Legilimens. "I-it's me?" he sputtered, clearly unbelieving.

"Yuppers." He still looked unconvinced, so I hugged him.

"Hey! Hey, now. Stop!" he growled shakily. "I said STOP!" and he pried me off him with his bony fingers.

"What made you come here?" I was suddenly curious, " Was it just the fic, or?"

"No….. as you may or may not know the Final Battle is over and the Light won. Potter, however, is pissed that I was such a ….. 'git who also happened to have killed Dumbledore, which was really mean even though he ordered you to' as he put it – well, anyway, he says that I should have to spend a month with a muggle. He sent me here and for some reason ordered me to visit your friend before taking up residence with you."

"Well, that's odd that he sent you to her….. I really can't figure out why."

"I guess we'll find out later. In the meantime, can I have something to eat? Fluing takes a lot out of you."

"Certainly." And I made us both grilled cheese sandwiches.

A/N: Well, that's the first chapter – hope you enjoyed it! More to come soon! PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE WITH SUGAR ON TOP, REVIEW!


	2. Leene

Chapter 2: Leene

A/N: Thanks Muchos ThePaperclip for reviewing!

Disclaimer: Me own nothing of the Harry Potter sort - WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!

The Potions Master stared at me, and then said, "So, you wanna be a witch?" It was the third day of his staying and he was obviously very bored. He had a book of complex potions out from his previously unnoticed trunk. "Or maybe a cat?" he asked, flipping the page.

"No, no wait – go back to the witch part." I said, feeling a sudden twinge of mischievousness.

Snape's lip curled in equal mischievousness, "But, Anna, the potion needs at least two drinkers, possibly three to work best." I nodded, I knew just who to invite into my little plan.

Although Kaitylan was as true to the Hermione standpoint of riskyness as one could be, I was sure she would not pass up the chance to truly enter the Wizarding World. My other friend that I was inviting was Leene. She was as gung-ho for adventures as I was – so I couldn't really see any difficulty in convincing her. I was sad, however, that I could not invite my friend Chelsena, she had many animals to take care of on her farm and I was sure that she would not be allowed to come. It was odd that after expressing this concern to Snape and he had replied that four would work I could not get a hold of Chelsena. I tried calling, emailing, and snail mailing – all to no avail.

The date for the three of us to meet was Tuesday. We would all be gathering in my home so I had to run around and tidy up. Snape, meanwhile, was preparing the potion. He had informed me that we would all need a way to afford our supplies. We had come up with the idea of a bake sale in the Magical Community. And as soon as Snape found out where that was (we were in America) we had all begun baking things at our houses. Tuesday soon arrived.

The doorbell rang – it was Leene. She still did not know of the entire plan, but she knew a good deal of it. "Well Anna, I'm here…. So – you sounded so giddy on the phone one would think you've got Snape tied up in one of your closets!" she then spotted Snape stirring the potion in the kitchen and said, "Or he's in your kitchen – that works too." It was then that I told her the entire plan. "Well that's fricken awesome." She said just as the doorbell rang again. It was Kaitylan.

"So what's this about? And what is Snape making in your kitchen?" she said, as I led her through my living room and to the kitchen where the others were. Snape was now feverously stirring a pot of highly peppermint fumage.

"You and me and Leene are all going to become witches by way of that potion over there." I said matter o' factly.

"Are you sure that's such a good idea? I mean, what if something goes wrong and we get chicken feathers or something?"

"_Hermione_….. I mean Kaitylan - no worries – it was brewed by a Potions Master. The best potions master." I grinned at Snape, who took no notice.

Kaitylan shrugged – it had seemed that I was right. "It's ready." Snape called, satisfied.

We stood in a circle and drank while Snape looked on curiously. A smile crept onto his face when Kaitylan stated blandly, " I don't feel any different."

"That," Snape hissed, " is a good thing. If you had felt any different the potion would've had an error in it, causing you to die." The two girls glared at me, but before I could say anything Snape continued with, "Anna did not know this – only I did. If I had not been confident of this potion I would not have given it to you. And besides – I know it worked – I can sense your magical energy."

"So when do we get out wands?" Leene asked, looking at her drained cup in amazement. We were all becoming slowly aware that we could sense each others power, faintly.

"After the bake sale." replied Snape, " You all brought something, did you not?" They nodded and he went on with, "Good. Then I suggest we get going, I have a table reserved for us at the market."

And with that Snape bid us to clutch tightly to him, as we were going to apparate by way of him. We gathered our things, held onto him and were off. We hurtled through time and space, which was a rather black mess of nothingness, and found our selves at the entrance to an ally. The sign above the entrance read, "Lettervale Ally". As we followed Snape through the ally we saw shops and such of the like that we had never come in contact with before, "Mishingbott's Wand Shop", "Kinderfeld Potions Apothecary", "Midnight Whispers, Books and Parchment", as well as "A Wizard's Best Friend" and "Robes, Robes We Won't Measure Your Nose."

As we walked along things seemed to be getting more and more crowded, and I sensed that we were approaching the market area. As it was our table wasn't even close to the outskirts. So we pushed and pushed through the crowd until we came to a rather same, rickety table.

"This is it?" Kaitylan snorted, incredulously.

"Yes, it is. Now I suggest you unpack – unless you dunderheads think you can perform magic without a wand first off?" Snape replied curtly, the crowd was trying his patience greatly.

And with much grumbling we unpacked. I and Kaitylan unpacked rather quickly, but Snape and Leene took far much more time. Leene enjoyed cooking, I knew, but there seemed to be a cuisine from every place on the planet in her bag. Snape, who had nicely accepted to help out as well, was the same as Leene. There was not much action on mine or Kaitylan's piles until a few hours in. Leene's and Snape's things were flying off the rickety table at speeds that made me worry that the table might fall to splinters. It took a great while for all the things to disappear from our table. When finally every last cream puff, rice dish, and egg role assorted were gone we had accumulated enough Galleons to role in happily. We of course didn't. It was now time for us to go shopping.

A/N Dun, dun, dun! What will happen now as the brave characters go shopping?

More to come soon, but first a little message…… Review, PLEEEEAAAASSSSSEEE!


	3. Disasters don't wear pants

A/N – Wow that took a long time. Sorry for the slow update!

DISCLAIMER: Me no own no Harry Potter characters…

Chapter Three – "Disasters don't wear pants."

It took some time for everyone to get their supplies for their Hogwarts adventure. It was around six in the evening when they all retired to the Leaky Cauldron. And that, of course, is when everything began to go incredibly wrong. You see, no one had noticed that downstairs in the dining area there was a figure that had been watching them from the corner. It was in fact, quite odd that Snape, with all his years of experienced spying, did not notice a monkey sitting absentmindedly in a corner – watching, just watching. It scratched its head. Still no response from the humans. How odd this was. And yet not as odd as the conversation that was taking place at the dinner table.

"No, Tom. I did not order a lamb sandwich. I ordered a ham sandwich." Snape said curtly, looking at the lamb – whom was stuck to two large pieces of bread.

"Baaah." It said. Tom had recently been smacked in the head with a frying pan and was having a slight lapse in brain function. He would, however, recover fully and stop serving the customers live animals.

"Oh, of course Master Snape. Would you like a belly button piercing with that?" replied Tom, lapsing into his tattoo parlor days.

"No Tom, water will do just fine." Snape sighed, rubbing his temples in frustration. Tom nodded and was off…. toward the restrooms…. "Tom! The kitchen's that way!" snapped Snape, jabbing his finger in the correct direction.

"Right-o, Captain!" And Tom was off, going the right way.

"Why," inquired Snape, " did he not manage to mess up your orders? How am I the only one?"

"We're cuter." replied Kaitlylan, watching in amusement as the lamb began to gnaw on Snape's sleeve.

"Oh yes, well, I never did have a knack for attracting toothless old bald men. Lucky, you." He sneered, watching horror flicker on her pale face, and a red blush highlight her auburn hair.

"Don't worry, Severus, you too will have a day when toothless bald men fall head over heals for you…. Although you most likely would have tripped them." grinned Anna, causing the table to laugh.

"Here you are, sir – your ham sandwich and some water." Tom was back. With proper food. It was a miracle. The monkey, however, was no longer in the corner. He had moved across the lovely splintered, wooden floor to reside underneath the group's table. He pushed his hands up onto the underside of the table and began to walk away. The monkey was kidnapping their table. This was bad.

"Why is our table crawling away?" questioned Leene, unable to see the monkey due to the rather long tablecloth, which enveloped the table. They all watched, absolutely astonished as the table moved halfway across the room, stopped and then proceeded to supply a monkey with dinner. It should be noted that this monkey had unusually slicked back hair. This Snape's keen senses noticed, and he sneered.

"It seems my godson has seen fit to interrupt our dinner."

"Your godson's a ….. monkey?" asked Tom, beaming with smiles.

"No-"

Tom interrupted him, "Aw! Is it his birthday?" and Tom proceeded to walk over to the monkey and sing "Happy Birthday" in a rather cute and annoying voice. The monkey looked terrified. Snape, on the other hand, sighed.

"Of all the animagus's he had to choose…. A monkey? Why a smelly monkey?"

"Hey! I like monkeys!" interjected Leene. Snape stood abruptly and walked over to where the monkey was being serenaded.

"That's quite enough, Tom." Snape growled with a forced smile. Tom, who had by now progressed to wishing the monkey a "Very happy anniversary, indeed", bowed and left – seemingly headed for a broom closet. Snape glared at the monkey, and without further ado it 'popped' back to its normal self. Draco Malfoy now sat in the Three Broomsticks, staring wide eyed at his godfather. "Well, what do you have to say for yourself?"

"Surprise….?" ventured Draco weakly.

"Indeed." Snape replied, his lips curling. Draco Malfoy had also been cleared when the war had ended – although until now Snape had not known what punishment Potter had assigned him. "You haven't been up to any monkey business lately, have you?"

Draco smirked, it was just like his godfather to be dreadfully sarcastic at a time like this. "No, no – although I did have to kiss Granger's feet as well." He stuck out his tongue in disgust.

"Good. That'll teach you to be more accepting. Now why is it that you were spying on me and my, dare I say it, friends?"

As Draco and Severus talked the girls sat in silent reflections. Only a moment ago they had had a table…. And now….. they were just a misfit bunch of chairs in a facsimile of order – depressing, really. Kaitylan sighed and toyed with the fork she still had in her hand, while Leene lamented the loss of the candle as Anna slowly drifted off into daydreams. It was quiet for a time. Then a loud bang alerted them all to their surroundings. Tom emerged out of the broom closet wearing a pan on his head and some tinfoil wrapped around his shirt.

"Charge! Battle stations knights! Giddy up!" And Tom galloped around the dining area on a mop. He brandished a feather duster as a sword and was content to clatter off up the stairs and annoy the rest of the lodgers when Snape bid him to do so. A few minutes after all the clattering had died down a bit, Snape motioned for the girls to bring their chairs over.

"This, girls," Snape motioned to Draco, " is my godson. His name is Draco. It appears that he was spying on us because he had a message for me from the new Head Mistress of Hogwarts – Minerva McGonagall. She apparently wants to challenge me to a game of Wizard's Chess."

"Ooh! How sexy!" grinned Anna, earning herself raised eyebrows from both Snape and Draco. "Oh, what! I'm just goofing, don't mind me…. Gah."

"For a second there, I thought we had another Luna Lovegood on our hands." snorted Draco, still curious as to whom these girls were.

"No, no, there is no one quite as …. unique as she is." commented Snape, wondering what exactly Minerva was up to. "So when does she expect me?" he inquired.

"Tomorrow. Noon. Her office," replied Draco.

"Oh yes, yes – of course! It's always her office isn't it? Well, fine. Tell her I'll be there." muttered Snape, looking wearily at Draco.

"Of course, Godfather." Draco rose and left the table.

And so the game was set to begin.

OkOkoKOKOKOKO

A/N – So, what's up? How do you like it so far? I'm trying to make it better than the usual new character fics. Hopefully you liked this chapter – it was a bit crazy and that is what I love to do. So, as always, Please Review!


	4. On Ice

Chapter Four….. On Ice.

A/N : I've been fantastically busy and a depressed puddle of goo, so please forgive the non – updation. Luvs a Myriad Dewdrop! P.S. I know I switched from first to third person last chapter…. And that was because I forgot that I was writing in first person. But, you see, I don't like writing in first person – so screw it – screw it upside down and backwards. The rest of this story may be all third person – which is sad, cuz I was writing this in first person to improve my first person skills. But screw it six times on the planet Mars. I like third person.

Disclaimer: nothing Harry Potter is mine, I'm just going to go and sulk in a corner now.

XXOXXOXXO

It was morning. No, really – it was. Only Tom couldn't see that. No, he was in the attic of the Three Broomsticks with a lampshade over his head. The previous night he had charged up the stairs, and upon greeting the dusty floor lamp that had made its home in the attic had begun to tango. However, he must have groped the lamp in a way that it hadn't liked, he thought to himself. That would explain the bruise on his elbow and the lampshade on his head.

OKOKOKOK

A few floors below the attic, there was chaos, starvation – well, no – not really. Everyone was just looking for Tom. They wanted breakfast. Because breakfast was yummy and wonderful, and totally a good thing when you woke up hungry. Snape and the Girls were hungry. Really hungry…. and irate.

They made there way down the corridors, calling his name and checking all the broom closets, finally when they were just about to give up hope, they found a housekeeping woman. From the looks of it her name was "Cheery Face Linda", apparently Tom had given his staff nicknames.

"Uh-er Linda!" called Snape, abandoning the 'Cheery Face'. She turned around and stared at them. She looked annoyed.

"How may I help you?" she inquired, jerkily.

"We're looking for Tom." Stated Snape

"So I gathered – I've been hearing you for the past hour."

"Yes, well – where is he? Is he out?" replied Snape curtly.

"No, he's just another man with a dick in his ear." said Linda, and she turned and walked away.

"Well that's one way to put it." Kaitylan said, breaking the stunned silence.

OKOKOKOK

Meanwhile up in the attic Tom was being assaulted by a spider. Tom doesn't like spiders. Shrieking he leapt from his spot and ran screaming out the door.

OKOKOKOK

"I wish we could find Tom, I'm hungry." mumbled Leene, her stomach a rumbling. The minutes were slowly ticking by, they hadn't searched the basement or the attic as they just knew he couldn't _possibly_ be there, despite Anna's frequent insisting. It was getting close to ten o'clock when they heard the voice they had been longing to hear. Although the words it was saying were not really what they had expected.

"CRACK WHORES!" shouted Tom, running towards them on the third floor corridor with lampshade on head and toilet tissue on shoe. "CRACK WHORES! GET THEM OFF ME!"

"I don't see any crack whores," stated Kaitylan blatantly.

"No, but that sure is a huge-ass spider on his back!" squealed Anna, flattening herself onto the wall.

"Incendio!" shouted Snape, and the spider was down. Unfortunately now Tom was on fire. Tom was quick to act, by stopping, dropping, and rolling about. Tom, minus the hole in his shirt, was fine.

"I love it when you play hard to get floor lamp, baby." swaggered Tom as he made his way towards Severus.

"And you know what I love," purred Snape, to everyone's surprise, "breakfast."

"Oh yeah, baby? I'll just get you some of that breakfast. Toast and bacon, with pumpkin juice sound good?" replied Tom, whom had not removed the lampshade yet.

"Oh yes, and bring some for my friends, Severus, Anna, Kaitylan, and Leene. And don't forget to bring some coffee."

"Yes, m'am!" and Tom was off to the kitchen, trotting happily.

Snape was then greeted with many raised eyebrows. He shrugged and said, "Worked, didn't it? Let's make our way to the table before it gets too late."

OKOKOKOK

Everyone was seated by the time Tom arrived with the food. After they were all served Tom went over to Snape and began to pet him. "Floor lamp, my dear floor lamp." Severus was not pleased. In a sudden, jerky movement Snape whipped the lampshade off of Tom's head and glared at him. Tom sniffled and mumbled, "Where's my lampy baby?"

Snape thought quickly and said the first thing that came to mind, "She went home. She said she wasn't feeling well…. And that you should bring her shade to her." Tom's eyes widened.

"My beloved is still in the attic!" he squealed, "I must save her from the crack whores!" and he charged back upstairs. Anna now looked more than faintly annoyed.

"I told you he was in the attic. But did you listen – nooooooo."

A few moments passed in silence and then Severus said very gravely, "When we get to Hogwarts you will not mention that you are now witches. You are to act as though you are still muggles, got it?"

"Why do we have to act like we're still muggles? Aren't you taking us there to be students?" Leene asked, smelling something fishy, probably the sea siren at the next table.

"In a manner of speaking, however, Potter's punishment still stands – he said I had to live with muggles for a month – but he didn't specify where."

"And what's so bad about muggles that you can't live with them for a month? Are they too far beneath you?" questioned Kaitylan, a fire burning in her eyes.

"No. This is not safe to discuss here, not now, anyway."

"What do you mean not now?" hissed Kaitylan.

"I mean, Bill Weasley just walked through that door," snapped Snape, indicating the new customer in the Three Broomsticks. In a moment Bill spotted them and headed towards their table. "Keep your mouths shut." Ordered Snape.

Before they could protest, Bill was at their table and asking, "Where's Tom? Mum heard about the accident with the frying pan and she told me to come here and give him this 'Get Well' card, I told her we could owl it – but no, it's nicer to give it to him in person she says, it'll make his day, she says, it'll - "

"Bill, you are doing ze rambling rambling zhing again. Excuse me ladies, hello Profezzor Snape," it was Fleur. " Do you 'appen to know where iz Mister Tom?"

"Tom," stated Snape, evenly, "is in the attic, although you may want to knock before you enter."

"Aw, ze tootless bald man has zey girlfriend?" asked Fleur, beaming brightly, no matter how long she had been married to Bill, her French accent was still as heavy as ever.

"In a way. You see - Tom has become infatuated with a floor lamp." Replied Snape, staring fixedly into his coffee mug, while the girls' stifled their giggling.

Bill's eyes widened, as did Fleur's. "P – perhaps one of the maids will give it to him?" squirmed Bill, looking as though he were trying to figure out something.

"You can try, but the only one on duty right now is Linda, and I doubt she'd do it for you. Not exactly the most helpful person in the world." He replied, fixing his gaze now on Bill.

"Er, right then….. guess I'll just go then, Fleur, dear – you stay here while I - "

"Oh you are always trying to be ze man!" said Fleur, throwing her hands up into the air, "I'm coming wiz you, I do not care what you say! If I am brave enough for battle, I am brave enough for zis – now come on! Nice meeting you, ladies." She said as an after thought, not wanting to seem rude. The group watched as Fleur dragged Bill up the stairs, huffing and puffing all the way.

OKOKOKOK

Fleur dragged Bill the entire way up the stairs and to the attic door. Bill was now a sickly green color. "What a wuss you are!" exclaimed Fleur, "It iz all your muzzer's fault! When we have childen, your muzzer may not come near zem!" Bill looked at her sadly, he hated not being brave enough for her, Fleur noticed this and continued affectionately, "But you are my wuss – and I love you anyway."

"I love you too, Fleur." Bill said, smiling.

"Good. Zhen you will knock on ze door."

Bill gulped, stepped forward and wrapped loudly on the door. "Come in!" came Tom, brightly and Bill froze.

"Oh for goodnez zake!" exclaimed Fleur and she pulled the door open, mightily.

The scene that met their eyes was not the one that they had been expecting. Tom was not having a steamy love affair with a floor lamp, but he seemed rather to be tending to it. It appeared as though he had found an old mattress and quilt and had made a make shift pillow out of cotton balls for the floor lamp to rest on. As Bill and Fleur stepped inside Tom shushed them and said, "She's not feeling very well, so keep your voices down." At that point Fleur nudged Bill and he stepped forward, card in hand.

"My Mum heard about the accident," Bill began, "and she wanted me to give you this – it's a 'Get well' card." Tom's face brightened.

"Oh, why thank you, young Bill, here let me read it to her – I'm surprised your mother found out so soon about Lampy's welfare! Tell her that her concern is always so appreciated! Hey, this card says dear Tom! Oh! She must have thought it was me – ha ha, I'm fine silly woman! And Lampy didn't get hit with a frying pan!" Tom was puzzled. Fleur then tried to explain things.

"No, no Mister Tom, it iz you who 'as been hit wiz a frying pan! Zat iz why you are wishing to make love to zis floor lamp!"

"OH! SO YOU THINK OUR LOVE IS A JOKE, HUH!" screamed Tom, " Well, it's not! AND FOR YOUR INFORMATION WE HAVEN'T EVEN HELD HANDS YET – OR KISSED!"

"Of courz you 'ave not 'eld hands!" yelled Fleur " Floor lamps don't 'ave any!"

"DO NOT MOCK HER!"

"Now, Tom – calm down." Stated Bill.

"Oh, look – LOOK WHAT YOU MADE ME DO!" Lampy's awake now, and it's all thanks to you – oooohhhh! She's upset – look at her, you've upset her! GET OUT – BOTH OF YOU, JUST GET OUT!" and Tom threw them out the door.

"Oh, very good explaining, Fleur – very good." Muttered Bill sarcastically, as he skidded to a halt on his rear.

"Shut up! I do not want to 'ear it! We are done wiz what we came for so let's go!" and Fleur dragged Bill back down the stairs.

OKOKOKOK

"It's eleven-thirty." Stated Snape, from his room, as they were all finished with breakfast and had started packing. "Get your things, bring them here and I shall shrink them." After a few moments past, he had a menagerie of suitcases in front of him to be shrunk. He did so and watched in amusement as the girls marveled at the tiny size. "Put them in your pocket and grab onto me," he instructed. "We shall be apparating to Hogsmead." And with a tiny 'pop' they were on their way.

It was a short trip from Hogsmead to the Hogwarts grounds. The girls were in awe at the sight of the castle, many 'woah's were uttered. It was not until Snape cleared his throat to get their attention that they tore their eyes off the big structure. " We will be heading down to the dungeons before my little chess match – I expect you to behave yourselves – and to remember what I told you." Two 'yes sir's and one 'yes m'am' later and they were down in the dungeons. Snape's office to be exact. In his office there was his desk, and on that desk there was a note – a note from Professor McGonagall. It said in big letters…..

Severus,

Please meet me at the lake at Noon today for our scheduled chess match. Oh, and do bring your friends.

Sincerely Yours,

Minerva M.

"At the lake?" asked Leene, "She a big fan of scenery?" Snape was bewildered.

"I have no idea," he replied, running a hand through his hair. "But we shall find out. Leave your things and come with me."

OKOKOKOK

Snape made his way to the lake, where Minerva stood waiting for him. She had a smug smirk on her face and was standing there with folded arms. "Minerva, dear have you forgotten the chessboard?" Snape sneered silkily.

"Why no, Severus, I haven't." She then pointed her wand at the lake and it froze into a giant chessboard. She then flicked her wand upward and chess pieces rose from it and carved themselves right in front of the group's eyes. "Well, come on Severus. Get on the board. And you girls," she said pointing at them, " have a seat." And she conjured a couch for them.

"Very nice piece of theatre, Minerva – very ah…. Dramatic, I must ask though, how many weeks did it take you to think that whole thing up?" Snape goaded, knowing that Minerva was absolutely horrible at retorts. As expected Minerva puffed out her checks and made several flustered sounds, but never quite got around to saying anything. "Very well, then Minerva. Shall we start?"

"Yes, very good, very good." And then she snickered, causing Snape quite a bit of confusion.

"Minerva, have you gone mad?"

"No, Severus, I have not – it's just that you, being the younger player get to play with the white pieces." And she sniggered some more.

"Oh, come now, Minerva, like I care. Like I really care."

"Would you like to make a wager?" asked Minerva, hoping to have caught Severus off-guard.

"What type of wager, Minerva?" he was not caught off-guard.

"If you lose you have to do something for me, which I will specify, and if I lose I will do something you specify."

"And what would you have me do?" Snape inquired, knowing secretly that he would win. No one had known of is great skills in chess except for Albus, whom he could beat every once and a while. That in its self said something.

"That, my dear Severus, I will only tell you if you agree to make the wager."

"Fine."

Minerva looked beside herself with joy as she exclaimed, " You will, if you lose, have to wear bright purple swim trunks to the next Start of Term Banquet…. And they must be _obviously_ purple, not two seconds away from black. What," grinned Minerva, knowing that she would win, having beat Albus a fair few times, "would you have me do?"

Snape thought about this for a few moments, knowing that he must at least seem slightly apprehensive or Minerva would back out. Finally, with a confident nod, he said, "Minerva, I would have you take your hair down out of that bun for two weeks, starting at the Start of Term Banquet, as well."

Now it was Minerva's turn to act appalled and apprehensive, secretly grinning inside that Snape had seemed so on edge, 'Usually that man doesn't give a hint of his feelings!' she thought to herself gleefully, not realizing that this was indeed a bad sign.

As they boarded the chessboard neither could feel more confident, nor more mistaken in their abilities against the other. Unlike the giant chess game Minerva had designed to guard the Sorcerer's Stone, no one had to stand in for a piece. The players directed the pieces from the sidelines, much like any other game of Wizard's Chess.

The game went back and forth, Snape lost his Queen right from the get go, but insisted that it didn't matter. He then took out both of Minerva's knights, much to her surprise. Not many people would use their Queen for bait. One of Severus's pawns started making funny faces at Minerva – so she took him out. That unfortunately led to the loss of one of her rooks. She tried to call it as foul play, but the pawn had acted on its own, with no encouragement from Severus. The game continued. At what seemed to be the final stand Severus had left a rook, a pawn and a knight, while Minerva was only left with her Queen and a pawn. Minerva grinned wildly as she saw check in sight, and with one swift movement Snape's knight was gone. "Check," she said triumphantly.

"No." replied Snape, as his rook took her Queen, "Not check, Minerva." Minerva's face fell – aghast. "Check mate."

"Oh… Bugger!" was all she could say as she glared at Severus.

"Relax," sneered Snape, "Let your hair down." He then began to laugh at her furious expression. It was a deep, rich melodious laugh that rang across the grounds and stirred the sparrows in the trees. Just then, he realized that Minerva was melting the board and hastily jumped off it, before he could be drenched. "Well you're a sore loser," he said, decidedly leading the girls away from the beside herself Head Mistress and back up to the castle, where he would help them settle into their Dungeon rooms.


End file.
